Despair
by Starry Serenade
Summary: One-shot. Post YJ:I Infinite Crisis AU - Wally is alive - Lex Luthor nukes Bludhaven, much to the despair and anger of Nightwing


**TIMELINE:**

 **Post YJ S2, one yr later**

 **Wally is alive, so nw didn't leave**

 **Nw is officially stationed in bludhaven**

 **I don't read the comics or play any of the games so my mistake**

 **Infinite crisis where alexander luthor nuked bludhaven**

 **Au where it was lex luthor**

* * *

Nightwing was gone. Off to save people that everybody, even him, knew he couldn't save. It was too late.

-Earlier

The Watchtower never ceased to amaze him. The large glass panes were the only thing separating him from the great expanse of the cosmos. He walked down the long hallway that was lined with windows. He reached the end of the hallway and the automatic door slid open for him. He walked through the doorway and into the living area, where most of the Team were lounging around.

Mt. Justice's demolition was still being tended to, even a year later, as reconstructing a whole mountain with all of their technology inside was a difficult task, even for the magic JLA members.

He was on his way to the kitchen to go get a cup of coffee and a donut (ironic, considering his occupation), then get back to work on enhancing his wing-dings. He was trying out a new recipe to strengthen the material they were made of, as he wanted them to rival his father's Bat-a-rangs.

He reached his destination, and he turned on the coffee brewer as he opened the box of donuts on the counter. He looked down and laughed, as all of the donuts had bites taken out of them. Although the group of hormonal teens had exhausted him when he was in charge of them, he couldn't help but be amused by their actions.

He closed the box and wandered into the living room, where the Avengers was playing with most of the room's inhabitants had glued their eyes to. He sat down on the arm of the couch next to Tim, who was sitting with Cassie. He looked at all of the kids, no, _heroes_ in the room, relaxing and laughing with each other.

With the Darkseid crisis having been over for a year, and most of the damages caused by the invasion had been fixed, the Justice League of America and other superhero teams could relax. Dick couldn't have been more relieved with how everything turned out in the end.

Looking back on it, his eyes lost focus on Natasha Romanoff forcing Loki's scepter into the Tesseract's force field as he thought back to a year ago. Everything could have gone so much worse. Wally could have failed to slow down as he slowly faded into the speed force and disappeared forever. Kaldur's mind could have been so damaged by M'gann's power that he would be unable to function normally ever again. The Reach and Light could have teamed up to take down the League before fighting against each other.

Shaking his head, his eyes refocused as he was pulled out of his thoughts. He narrowed his eyes. Something was wrong. He could feel it. Also Conner had sat up from his position in front of the couch, but that wasn't the point.

Dick stood up, and made his way out of the room just as a blaring alarm spread through the Watchtower. His leisurely pace sped up to a sprint as he skidded to a stop in the area dubbed as the "Mission Center". There was a large clearing in which one could open a holographic computer screen, with the clearing being circular with the large window panes facing one side.

Hal, who was sitting in a chair made from his powers, quickly stood up as he finished opening a holographic screen. It was large enough for the entire group to see, as the Team and League had arrived at the sound of the alarm. On the screen was Lex Luthor, the man himself, who looked extremely pleased and had a sinister look in his eye.

"Hello, citizens of the eastern United States," he smiled, "By now, I hope you all realize how extreme the crime rate has been as of late. My company, LexCorp of course, has been talking about how to lower the crime rate exponentially. "

Many of the League members crossed their arms, as any exponential idea of Lex's always turned into explosions and the League being involved.

He continued, "As you know, the lovely cities of Gotham and Bludhaven are notoriously known for being the worst cities in America. These two cities are great examples of how far humanity has sunk, as their crime percentages combined are worse than every other city in America _combined._

All of the members of the "Bat Family" (Bruce would deny ever coming up with such a name) awkwardly shuffled, as their cities were the ones being targeted and brought down. This couldn't end well.

"Our solution, as I'm sure you all have been _dying_ to know, is simple. As most of Bludhaven's criminals have migrated south from Gotham, we had to pick either one or the other. The source, Gotham, is too large to be eradicated, so we had to settle with number two.

Dick stood up straighter and glared at Luthor, who looked pleased with himself and seemed to be mocking him. His city was in trouble.

"Let me switch over to our live camera of Bludhaven, the second most crime-ridden city in the United States."

The screen crackled with static before clearing again to show a monitor. The monitor was above a large city, with the whole expanse of the city being visible through the camera.

"This is Bludhaven. The second worst city in the States. Or, as I should say, WAS the second worse."

With that statement Dick tensed, and he could feel many pairs of eyes on him, as his city was being threatened and every hero in the room knew something terrible was going to be shown.

The monitor shook, and something black dropped from the screen before the camera stabilized again. It looked to be a long cylinder, but every hero in the room felt their eyes widen as they realized what the black cylinder was. A nuke was being dropped on Bludhaven.

Dick's heart was pounding, but he knew he had to do something before his city was demolished. He brought his left hand to his right wrist and began typing something into the computer, moving away from the group to have more space.

As he was typing, the League rushed around, barking orders and commands to the computer system while the freshman of the Team stood to the side, watching in horror at the chaos around them.

Multiple computer screens were brought up, with their operator's fingers flying across the keyboard to type in commands and passwords.

The original Team had surrounded Dick, telling him not to do anything rash, even as everyone knew was what would happen.

Dick was ignoring them, as his concern over Bludhaven was growing by the minute. He suddenly opened an audio file, and seemingly _commanded_ , "CODE BLACK. NUCLEAR MISSILE DROPPED. ETA 3 MINUTES."

The nuke was getting smaller and smaller on the monitor, how a small cylinder could demolish an entire city always dumbfounded them all, even as they knew the nukes contents.

The League had gone silent, doing all they could, but moved closer to Dick as he closed his screen.

Speaking calmly, Diana went to stand in front of Dick and reassured him, "I'm sorry. It will work out in the end. As much as we all hate it, there's nothing we can do now, as we won't get there in time to prepare a defense."

Dick closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. The monitor behind Wonder Woman showed the city of Bludhaven. His haven, his home when his father had thrown him out. A city of black and gray, not unlike Gotham.

The nuke dropped.

The camera shook, and bright orange fire and dark gray smoke filled the screen as the camera was buffeted. The camera shook before stabilizing, and what was shown made the Team gasp.

Where the might city of Bludhaven had once stood, a crater was dug deep into the middle. The buildings surrounding were demolished, as only debris was visible.

Exhaling, Dick loudly said, "I'm so sorry," before shooting his grapple gun at the ceiling. He hung on until he cleared Artemis' head, then let go immediately. He sprinted towards the Zeta tubes while reaching into his belt for something.

The League and the Team reacted, all going towards Nightwing in an attempt to stop him from reaching the radioactive, demolished city. He knew the threats and they did too.

"Nightwing!"

"Dude! Stop!"

"You can't! There's nothing left!"

"You'll die!"

All of their concerns and voices mixed in with each other as Dick rolled and ducked under various projectiles. Batarang, that was from Bruce. Lasso, considering how short it was, it was from Cassie.

He released the marbles he was holding onto the floor and heard 3 swears behind him as the speedsters failed to dodge the small glass balls.

He took two small spheres from his belt, ripped out the pins, and tossed them behind him. Smoke and a small explosion filled the room, blocking everybody's view from the escaping hero. Arrows, blue staples, and thrown projectiles littered the ground and wall in front of him as he reached the Zeta tubes. He threw down another sphere, and a thick what gas filled the room, while Dick stuck his air filter into his mouth. Sleeping gas.

Skidding to a stop, he quickly typed in his desired coordinates and dove into the tube. He pulled out his escrima sticks and blocked the projectiles that were being fired at him rapidly. The computer recognized him as "Nightwing B-01" before a blinding white light filled the room.

Wally let his arm go limp, as he was just about to grab onto Dick's arm before he teleported away. The room was silent, before Bruce, Barbara, and Tim walked over to the tube. Batman typed in the coordinates as Barbara and Tim checked their gear and equipment.

While typing, Batman said, "Nobody follow us. Get officials and emergency vehicles to Bludhaven _now_. Look for survivors, check on surrounding cities, _no,_ Wally."

Wally closed his mouth, about to protest.

Batman finished typing the coordinates, and finished with his lock on those coordinates for the next 20 minutes. He knew the Team would try to follow them after they left.

Tim stepped in the tube, with the computer recognizing him as "Robin B-20" before teleporting him away.

"Batgirl B-16"

"Batman 02"

With that, the Bats were gone, and in the kitchen, the coffee in the brewer had gone cold.

* * *

 **I guess im kinda proud? Like I left a lot of plot holes and unexplained actions but wha t ever**

 **Thank you for reading**

 **also i can never get the line breaks correct forgive me**


End file.
